The Board's Guide to Environmental Stewardship
Boards are charged with maximizing the value of an organization and they are increasingly acknowledging the opportunities and risks that sustainability and environmental stewardship present. As ambassadors for the organization, board members act as stewards for the long term and understand the priority impact areas around sustainability, which also inform long-term strategy.
Environmental stewardship should now be considered a supporting element of the health care mission to heal and promote well-being. The field is encouraged to recognize and acknowledge community expectations regarding environmental stewardship, along with the risks the environment poses to hospitals’ physical assets. As such, the sector’s actions merit support for creating a new avenue for financial savings through the reduction of energy, water, and carbon emissions, with health care organizations considering environmental stewardship among its strategic initiatives. As such, the sector’s actions merit support for worldwide reductions in carbon emissions, with health care organization considering the inclusion of sustainability and decarbonization among its strategic initiatives.
The board of directors is uniquely positioned to consider both the opportunities and risks the environment presents to the organization. Charged with maximizing the value of the organization and acting in the organization’s best interest, the board of directors recognizes the savings opportunities, environmental risks, and environmental awareness of the community.
Sections
The Board’s Responsibility
While the board’s duty is to oversee the organization, the words and actions of individual board members can elevate strategic initiatives and strengthen the culture of the organization. Board members are ambassadors for the organization and have a responsibility to help the CEO be successful.
The board often acts as stewards for the long term, and helps to evaluate the impact the environment has on business performance. The board can oversee a materiality assessment to understand priority areas and inform long-term strategy. Organizations might formalize the board’s role by including references to environmental stewardship in the board’s charters and annual training.
If sustainability and environmental stewardship are new concepts to the board of directors, there are resources available on the Sustainability Roadmap that provide insights and resources for the health care enterprise, including operations, procurement, purchasing, maintenance, and new models of care.
U.S. health care systems are beginning to make structural changes to support the strategic initiative of sustainability as a transformational program for their organizations.
Organizations that learn from other leaders will celebrate achievements along the way, garnering support from stakeholders and positioning the organization to maximize value.
Recommendations for the Board of Directors
- Become familiar with and learn about the principles of environmental stewardship.
- Review/oversee a materiality assessment to understand the impact the environment plays on business performance.
- Consider formalizing the board’s role by including environmental stewardship and sustainability as priorities in the board manual, charters, and annual training.
- Plan regular board trainings on sustainability and environmental stewardship in health care.
- Support and oversee management efforts to track progress towards the plan.
- Create a board committee or include environmental stewardship discussions in an existing board committee.
- Board members, in their roles as ambassadors, could consider reinforcing the importance of environmental stewardship in the community.